Blog
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The Science of Sleeplessness
Read more: The Science of SleeplessnessA survey of the latest in sleep science (and sleep science books) by Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker. This is from The Slumbering Masses, by Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer: “Americans, like other people around the world, used to sleep in an unconsolidated fashion, that is, in two or more periods throughout the day.” They went to bed not long after the…
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Mind Over Mind
Read more: Mind Over MindHow expectations shape experience explored at book length in Mind Over Mind–and at interview length here (Scientific American): [P]lacebo effects in medicine are just one example of how our expectations can bend reality. For instance, brain scans reveal that expectations about a wine’s quality (based on price or a critic’s review) actually change the level of activity…
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Toward Unparenting
Read more: Toward UnparentingIn the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert surveys a crop of “unparenting” books that take aim at parental overproviding and overprotecting: Madeline Levine, a psychologist who lives outside San Francisco, specializes in treating young adults. In “Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success” (HarperCollins), she argues that we do too much for our kids because we overestimate…
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This is How
Read more: This is HowA self-help book for the self-help averse from Augusten Burroughs. Here’s a chunk, excerpted at TNB Nonfiction: Canadian researchers found those with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves. They said phrases such as “I am a lovable person” only helped people with high self-esteem. The study appears in the journal Psychological…
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Procrastination and Other Habits
Read more: Procrastination and Other HabitsPower of Habit author Charles Duhigg weighs in on Bloggingheads: